ed near them were
willing to purchase their petty farms: thus the small holdings were
bought up,[166] and the estates of the greater landholders were cleared
of "lurchers," who preyed on their flocks.[167]

The small grants of land were productive of much real mischief and
little benefit. They fell chiefly into the hands of spirit dealers, and
the government permitted the purchasers to consolidate all such
acquisitions into one large grant.[168]

In 1814, Macquarie issued an order threatening the resumption of grants
for non-residence or alienation. These notices were rather a protest
than an interdict, and were so understood.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 161: _Eden's Discourse on Banishment._]

[Footnote 162: _Collins_, vol. i. p. 257.]

[Footnote 163: _Commons Report_, 1812.]

[Footnote 164: _Bigge's Report._]

[Footnote 165: Ibid.]

[Footnote 166: "A small farm of 30 acres was now offered to me by Bryan:
I recommended Mr. Cox (of New South Wales) to buy it, which he did for
L40; half money and half property. I also purchased for him two others;
one of 25 acres, and another of 50 acres, from Mr. Hume, for L45;
another of 30 acres from Thomas Higgins, for L35; and another farm, of
100 acres, I also purchased for Mr. Cox for L50 and ten gallons of rum.
I likewise bought another farm of 100 acres from Captain Campbell for
L100; and of Dr. Thompson, a farm of 100 acres, with twenty-five sheep,
an old mare, two fillies and a colt, a cow, and a young ox, for L500:
the stock, when valued, was worth more than the purchase money. Next
year (1801) I bought John Ramsay's farm of 75 acres, for L40; and then
Michael Fitzgerald's, with eight large pigs and eighty bushels of maize,
for L100. I let this farm, ten days after, for L40 per year. I then
purchased Barrington's (the celebrated pickpocket), 25 acres, an old
brood mare with a colt at her foot, for L100, and sold the mare a few
days after for L85. I then bought 50 acres from Edward Elliot, for L100,
and by these means squared the estate."--_Holt's Memoirs_, vol. ii. p.
137.]

[Footnote 167: "A lurcher is the lowest order of thieves."--_Holt._]

[Footnote 168: _Bigge's Report._]

SECTION X.

Van Diemen's Land was divided into counties by Governor King (1805). An
imaginary line was drawn across the island from east to west midway;
Buckingham being on the south, and Cornwall on the north. Macquarie made
sections more minute, by a running survey.

In 1826, le